Another time Billy heard Rosewater say to a psychiatrist, “I think you guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people just aren’t going to want to go on living.” (Kurt Vonnegut, from Slaughterhouse-5)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is L’odissea di Bergman/L’odyssée de Giuseppe Bergman (Bergman’s Odyssey), which was published in 2004 (I can’t find where it originally appeared, but it was published in both France and Italy). These scans are from The Manara Library volume 5, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated June 2013. Enjoy! (For the last time – at least with regard to Manara – I have to place a Not Safe For Work warning here.)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is Revoir les étoiles (To See Once More the Stars), which was published in À Suivre magazine in 1997. These scans are from The Manara Library volume 5, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated June 2013. Enjoy! (Once again, I have to hit you with a Not Safe For Work warning. HERE IT IS!!!!)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is Viaggio a Tulun* (Trip to Tulum), which was published in Corto Maltese magazine in 1989. These scans are from The Manara Library volume 3, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated August 2012. Enjoy! (And, in case you’re curious, there’s some Not Safe For Work nudity under the cut. Stay away, prudes!)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is Les Nouvelles Aventures de Giuseppe Bergman (published in English as The African Adventures of Giuseppe Bergman, Books 1 and 2), which were published in À Suivre magazine in 1980/1981. These scans are from The Manara Library volume 5, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated June 2013. Enjoy! (And yes, there’s nekkid stuff below the cut, so here’s your warning!!!!)Continue Reading »

Every day this year, I will be examining the artwork on a single comic book story. Today’s artist is Milo Manara, and the story is Lo Scimmiotto (“The Young Ape”), which was published in Alterlinus magazine in 1976-1977. These scans are from The Manara Library volume 3, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated August 2012. Enjoy! (And yes, there’s some nekkidness below the cut. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!)Continue Reading »

Last month, I didn’t get a chance to finish all of these before I went to the convention in Seattle, and then I was busy when I got back. So this month, we get a double dose of trades and books I’ve read and such. That means this is really long, and I apologize for that!Continue Reading »

Sipping drinks on the porch in the sunset, Farsheed Shomloo, an immigration lawyer, pointed to a book on the patio table and told Jim, “You should read this new book about Iran, it’s really interesting.” Jim replied:

“I don’t want to read it. I know the outcome already. In Iran, there is beautiful poetry and everything turns out a disaster. Here the poetry is not so beautiful, but people are free to discover the best in themselves; that’s why America has happy endings. Here it’s a negative system: there is no entrenched despotism, no will to dominate. We immigrants can remake the whole country if we want to. It’s ours for the taking, as if there is a perpetual clean slate where nobody is ever owed anything. I’ll tell you, the Iranian revolution was a disaster for Iran and a success for America, because it brought a lot of talented, ambitious Iranians here. Every time there is a disaster in the Third World, it’s a good thing for America, since the best of the middle class finds its way here.” (Robert Kaplan, from An Empire Wilderness)

As I’m getting more and more things in trade these days and many of those don’t come out very quickly, I often miss titles that everyone is raving about for my year-end lists (see: Daredevil). So I’ve decided to do a post every month about the various trade paperbacks I got in the month. I’ve also included editions of things that may be from an earlier year but which I didn’t get until now or which have been re-released, and some other stuff, too. I’m still going to review new graphic novels individually, but this is for anything that doesn’t fall into that category. Sound good? Great. Let’s check some stuff out!Continue Reading »

Despair and idleness are, I think, the chief motives for religious devotion. When we have nothing on earth to do or hope for we gaze at the sky. We kiss the holy ikons because we have nothing better to kiss. (Lawrence Durrell, from Pope Joan)